So my wife and I went downtown Davenport just to hit a couple bars and walk around a bit in hopes that we may actually run into someone from the band. We were out of the car literally 1 minute walking down 2nd Street deciding where to go, when my wife looks across the street it says "Is that Billy"?? I looked over and actually recognized Jeff immediately. So we went across the street where they were probably a half block ahead of us. We were trailing them for an encounter when they walked into the Woodfire Grill.

So we went in and there stood Billy and Jeff waiting for the hostess. My wife opened with "Can we buy you dinner"?? Billy said that wasn't necessary. I asked if we could get a couple of pictures with them and told them that I didn't want to be rude and interupt their meal. So I thought it would be best if we could do it before they were seated and ordered their food. Billy said that would be fine and said we could talk a bit. Then the hostess came up and asked Billy how many were in his party. He said 4. I thought for a minute that he and Jeff must be expecting a couple of other people to dine with them. But Billy actually meant myself and my wife as the 3rd and 4th people. Billy wanted to sit outside, so the hostess started to lead us to our table and Billy said again "C'mon, we can talk for a bit".

So we're seated and the first thing Billy says is that he hates when people think they only have 60 seconds to say whatever they want and then have to move along. So there I sat at a table with just Billy, Jeff, and my wife. I was in complete disbelief. I was getting one on one time with Billy and Jeff. Several times I told him that I didn't want to intrude and disrupt their meal. We talked for a total of around 15 minutes before I let them be. Billy did most of the talking and I would simply add my 2 cents or ask him to explain further.

A few things that are newsworthy are that they WILL be playing GLOW as the 2nd song of the set (I couldn't believe he actually gave the setlist placement of the song). I asked about the release and he said it looks like Europe will get a physical release and the US will get a digital version (iTunes). He said he is currently fighting the record company on this, but it looks like that is what will happen. So it'll most likely be just like the American Gothic release. I asked if it was just the one song (GLOW), or if there would be other tracks and told me they had just had a conversation about this and he was not at liberty to disuss it. He said "they" told him not to talk about it.

For the most part, Billy talked about the current state of music and touring. He was telling me how over the course of history even huge acts like Frank Sinatra and Elvis eventually resorted to simply doing shows in Las Vegas. He said soon enough we will be seeing mainstream rock acts such as Motley Crue doing 1 month stands in Vegas. He was going on about how the tours were great when they were in Europe and then it was like hitting brick wall when they came back to the states. I asked how he meant... as far as ticket sales, the setlist they were playing??.... Him and Jeff at the same time said "both". He said they are not the only band out there having trouble selling out venues.

I started asking him about this tour and he was VERY excited to talk about it. He said it will be unlike ANYTHING they have ever done before (even the previous eras). He said it will TOTALLY rock and it will kick everyone's ass. He mentioned that they are working on 9 new songs that the band has never performed before in this incarnation of the band (I'm not sure if that includes GLOW). I figured those would be spread out across the 9 or 10 shows. You know, 2 or 3 songs this night, another 3 or 4 the next, and then kinda mix and match those songs across the tour for a total of 9 new songs. Billy informed me that they WILL be playing ALL 9 SONGS EACH NIGHT!! Now this next thing he told me, REALLY disappointed me. He said they will no longer be changing up the setlist night to night. It will be the same setlist every single night of the tour in the same order (much like the February / March 2008 Europe shows). At this point, I actually looked Billy dead in the eyes and told him "That's Bullshit"!! I must say, it was definitely interesting to sit directly across from Billy Corgan and say that what he was doing is Bullshit. I told him that for me, A LOT of the fun is wondering what songs they will play on any given night of the tour and it's WAY more fun when they throw something in there that they haven't been playing regularly on the tour. I mean CHRIST!! To not even change the order of the songs!?!? I told him I prefer (like most die hard fans) when they take 30 songs on tour with them and play 22 - 24 of those a night. Then there are always a few songs that you aren't sure if you'll hear or not, but always hope so... or even hope for something they haven't been playing at all on the tour. He said the days of changing the setlist night to night and kinda learning songs as the tour progresses are over.

Just before this, I asked him if they would give an extra 45 minutes in Hammond. And he just kinda looked at me like what do you mean?? I said, well tickets for Hammond are TWICE as much as any other date on the tour. And seeing as the show is so close to your hometown of Chicago... is there going to be a little "give the fans more for their money". Billy told me the casino's pay the band more money than any other venue, and they also charge a lot more per ticket. The band had no hand in those ticket prices. That's when he informed me it would be the same show across the tour. He tried to explain to me that they were getting a better crowd response that way, but I still told him that totally sucks!!

I told him part of the fun as a die hard is waking up the morning after they play a show (wherever they are in the world) and being able to find their setlist to see what they played the night before. It's just no fun for us REAL fans. And he actually agreed that it is short changing us die hards. Which by the way, he did say that if you're a die hard fan, you're REALLY going to enjoy this tour. About this time the waiter came up to ask what everyone wanted to drink and overheard us talking about casino's. The Rhythm City riverboat casino is just a couple blocks from us and the waiter says do you like to gamble?? (totally oblivious to the fact that it is Billy Corgan sitting there) Billy quips back, "I like to gamble with my life". Everyone at the table (Billy included) bursted out laughing at his comment.

Billy got on the James / D'arcy lawsuit a little bit with me. NOW THIS REALLY SUCKS!! He told me that due to the lawsuit, the Gish tour scheduled for early 2009 has been post-poned indefinitely!! Since the boxset may or may not come out (they currently don't know) there will be no tour. He said the whole point of the tour was to coincide with the release of the boxset. So basically tour for the boxset. Well, if there's no box set... there's no tour. He said the release may still come out, but it has DEFINITELY been pushed back due to this lawsuit.

I asked him about what eras those 9 songs come from for this tour (and how far back) and he said all the way back. And then I had a MonteLDS moment. I asked him if they go all the way back to 1988 and Billy looks and me and says.... "Now you're scaring me"!. I started laughing at that point (thinking about Monte). I didn't even mention a song title, tease, whatever. I simply mentioned 1988 to get that response.

I know my story might be a little long and not all in the correct order of conversation, but that's what I remember most at the moment. I keep thinking of extra little tid bits here and there. Myself and my wife keep jogging each other memories about certain things he said. So before we left, Jeff offered to take a picture of myself and my wife with Billy. Then my wife took a picture of me with Billy and Jeff. I felt like Jeff was totally left out of the conversation and told him "I absolutely fucking love what you're doing with the band. I think you're great"!! And Billy gave his re-assurance that Jeff was doing REALLY well. That's about all of my story for now. I'll upload the photos sometime soon.

Billy looks just beautiful. I like the first pic with him more because he's smiling

I'm really happy to hear that he is very excited about what he is doing. that is wonderful.

i agree with the disappointment in a non-changing setlist. of course they have their reasons. but with the computer if you see the show on u tube then you know exactly what your show will be when they come to your part of the U.S and that doesn't increase excitment to see your show. but i'm still going to watch as many shows as i can because thats the way my love is. maybe they could have 3 different shows and then you dont know which show you'll get. but they are new playing with each other so it must be really so hard to learn all that material and grow together. so maybe taking a certain amount of songs and really getting into a feeling for how the band plays together is important to them at this time. whatever as long as they are doing what makes them happy.

too bad about the lawsuit stuff but i'm 100 percent thrilled that they are happy and excited about where they are going next. that is way more important to me than covering the past.

Ming the Merciless shirt? That's fucking awesome. Wear that shit every night, Billy. We'd like it more than the dresses.

I don't know about those pants though. There should be some kind of rule against wearing purple pants unless your name is Bruce Banner.

As for the setlists not changing, that kinda sucks for us internet geeks who sit here on Netphoria waiting to see if any surprises showed up in the latest show. But if it makes for a better live show for the people actually there, so be it. Besides, it's not like the band ever really varied the setlists enough to get terribly excited about anyway.

the 9 songs are old tunes that this incarnation just hasn't played before? for some reason i was under the impression that they were 9 NEW songs. but they are 9 old songs and they will be played every night? now that is exciting.

Location: Well, if it isn't my old friend, Mr. McGreg, with a leg for an arm and an arm for a leg!

Posts: 6,417

Damn, thanks for that story, this is the most useful thing anyone's posted in about a year. A non-varying setlist is pretty weak for anyone who wants to see multiple shows, but I have a feeling the shows will involve a lot of instruments and some cool shit.

Those pictures though, I always forget how tall Billy is, and I've never seen his birthmark quite so red and visible, weird.